The present invention relates generally to eggs and, more particularly, to apparatus for handling eggs.
In poultry hatcheries and other egg processing facilities, eggs are handled and processed in large numbers. The term xe2x80x9cprocessingxe2x80x9d includes treating live eggs with medications, nutrients, hormones and/or other beneficial substances while the embryos are still in the egg (i.e., in ovo). In ovo injections of various substances into avian eggs have been employed to decrease post-hatch morbidity and mortality rates, increase the potential growth rates or eventual size of the resulting bird, and even to influence the gender determination of the embryo. Injection of vaccines into live eggs have been effectively employed to immunize birds in ovo. It is further desirable in the poultry industry to manipulate an embryo in ovo to introduce foreign nucleic acid molecules (i.e., to create a transgenic bird) or to introduce foreign cells (i.e., to create a chimeric bird) into the developing embryo.
In ovo injection of a virus may be utilized to propagate the particular virus for use in preparation of vaccines. Examples of substances that have been used for, or proposed for, in ovo injection include vaccines, antibiotics and vitamins. Examples of in ovo treatment substances and methods of in ovo injection, as well as apparatus for handling a plurality of eggs, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,630 to Sharma et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,421 to Fredericksen et al., which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Improved methods of injecting eggs containing an embryo may be used to remove samples from eggs, including embryonic and extra-embryonic materials. Further, for other applications it may be desirable to insert a sensing device inside an egg containing an embryo to collect information therefrom, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,214 to Hebrank, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In commercial hatcheries, eggs typically are held in setting flats during incubation. At a selected time, typically on the eighteenth day of incubation, the eggs are removed from an incubator. Unfit eggs (namely, dead eggs, rotted eggs, empties, and clear eggs) are identified and removed, live eggs are treated (e.g., inoculated) and then transferred to hatching baskets.
Conveyor belts are conventionally utilized to transport live eggs from one location to another before, during and/or after processing. Unfortunately, live eggs typically will not distribute evenly across a moving conveyor belt. Live eggs will often roll backwards, end-over-end, in the opposite direction of the moving conveyor belt. The lack of even distribution and backwards rolling of live eggs can cause difficulties at various processing apparatus. For example, eggs can become bunched together which may result in breakage. In addition, bunching can result in eggs being placed on top of other eggs on a conveyor, which may also cause breakage. Eggs rolling end-over-end can also xe2x80x9cride upxe2x80x9d on other eggs which may also cause breakage.
In view of the above discussion, embodiments of the present invention provide an egg transfer apparatus that is configured to distribute eggs substantially evenly with reduced breakage on a moving conveyor. The egg transfer apparatus includes a conveyor having opposite first and second ends, a pair of elongated members that extend along the direction of travel of the conveyor between the conveyor first and second ends, and a plurality of spaced-apart, diverging guides positioned downstream from the elongated members.
The endless conveyor conveys eggs disposed thereon from the first end to the second end. Each elongated member includes opposite first and second end portions. The first end portions of the elongated members are in generally parallel, spaced-apart relationship, and the second end portions have an arcuate configuration and converge to define an opening therebetween through which eggs on the conveyor are conveyed. The diverging guides are positioned downstream from the opening and cause the eggs passing through the opening to be generally evenly distributed at the conveyor second end. According to embodiments of the present invention, the diverging guides and elongated members oscillate along the direction of movement of the conveyor to facilitate even distribution of eggs.
An egg handling system according to embodiments of the present invention includes an egg positioning apparatus that positions eggs in a predetermined orientation, an egg transfer apparatus operably associated with the egg positioning apparatus, and an egg lifting device operably associated with the egg transfer apparatus. The conveyor of the egg transfer apparatus is operably associated with the egg positioning apparatus.
The egg positioning apparatus is configured to orient and hold eggs in a predetermined position for processing (e.g., in ovo injection, etc.) and includes a plurality of chutes for receiving evenly distributed eggs from the conveyor of the egg transfer apparatus.